The new council of Overstrand Municipality held it first portfolio committees this week. A change from the past is that the portfolio committees meet now separately over two days and not jointly on one day.
A question is whether these meetings are open to the public. No indication is given of where and what time these meetings take place although the agendas are accessible on the municipal website.
Portfolio committee meetings are the real engine room of council as it is where matters going to Council or the Mayoral Committee for resolution are discussed in depth by councillors. For transparency sake these meetings should be open to the public.
Issues that received the attention of the Investment and Infrastructure Portfolio Committee under chairmanship of Cllr Clinton Lerm included contentious proposals that were referred back to the administration by the previous council at its last meeting in October 2021, such as the lease of land near Kleinmond to a company for the generation of solar energy and funding for the further development of the Hermanus Sport Centre.
Members of this committee are Alderlady Riana de Coning and councillors M Nomatiti (both of the DA), M Sihlahla (ANC) and V Bandeza (EFF).
Although there is at this stage no clarity on what the outcome of the meeting was, the recommendation from the administration regarding the direct lease of a portion of portion 1 of Farm 562 situated outside Kleinmond is that a deviation from paragraph 18 of the Administration of Immovable Property Policy of 2015 be approved by Council to allow the municipality to enter into a long-term lease of municipal property agreement with Neon Blue (Pty) Ltd for the purposes of developing, constructing and managing a renewable energy generation plant and related/associated activities for a period of 25 years at a rental amount of R8,500.00 per month.
The administration’s recommendation for the funding of further development at the Hermanus Sport Club was that Council approves the deviation of Clauses 5.2 and 5.3 of its Grants-in-Aid Policy eo enable a once off Grant-in-Aid to the amount of R1,5 million and R100 000 on condition that the grant is used for further development of the Sports Club on condition that HSC be fully compliant with the provisions of Section 67 of the Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003.
The Town & Spatial Planning Report with regard to applications considered In terms of delegated authority from October 2021 to January 2022 was the first item on the agenda. Cognisance was taken of 29 town planning applications disposed of by the Authorised Official in terms of the S[atial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA) as well as 15 applications disposed of by the Municipal Planning Tribunal.
Properties affected in the Hangklip-Kleinmond were the Remainder of Erf 496, 2 Gulley Road, Pringle Bay (3 November 2021); Erf 7967, 122 Fourth Avenue, Kleinmond (12 December 2021); and Erf 3079, 70 DF Malherbe Street, Kleinmond (30 December 2021) as well as Erf 6180, 8 Harbour Road, Kleinmond (27 October 2021), Erf 3456, 4 Straight Street, Betty’s Bay (27 October 2021), Portion 8 of the farm De Draay No 563 (27 October 2021), Portion 13 of farm De Draay No 563 (30 November 2021) and Erf 1619, 9 Caesar Road, Pringle Bay (15 December 2021). More detail will be given in a separate repor later.
In a separate report in principle approval for the direct alienation of a portion of Erf 226 Pringle Bay (portion of residential erf) adjacent to Erf 227 Pringle Bay situated in Bell Road North, Pringle Bay, to Poppy Ice Trading 15 (Pty) Ltd was recommended subject to certain conditions and the conduct of a public participation process.
